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Online Video Content Compliments Traditional Broadcast TV

6:10 am on January 13, 2008 | Category: Internet, Television, Web Services

Six out of ten U.S. broadband subscribers watch or download online video content at least once a week, and as many as 86% do so on at least a monthly basis, according to a recent study by Horowitz Associates, a market research and consulting firm.

The weekly and monthly figures are up from 45% and 71%, respectively, in a similar study a year ago.

Horowitz found that news and user-generated content are the most frequently viewed genres of online video, followed by movie previews, music videos, and segments of regular TV shows. NBC and ABC are the broadcast networks most associated with online TV viewing, and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy is the most-mentioned program viewed online.

The study also found that the number of American broadband users watching full episodes of TV shows online at least once a week has doubled to 16%.

Despite the rise of broadband video, however, traditional TV remains the preferred platform among most users. 70% of those who watch TV online said they did so to catch up on shows they missed on television, while 18% said they sometimes watch shows for a second time online after first viewing them on television.

“There is a dynamic relationship between broadband access, broadband content and broadband consumption,” according to the president of Horowitz Associates, Howard Horowitz. “More and better broadband content, particularly entertainment content in video form, is bringing more consumers to the platform, either on their computers or on their handheld devices.”

“This, in turn, creates an even greater demand for, and expectations regarding, broadband video,” Horowitz explained. “Importantly, the data suggest that broadband video is not cannibalistic to linear video, but rather an enhancement to consumers’ traditional TV experience.”

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